Molecular diagnosis of Leishmania spp. in wild animals from Botucatu and Palmital counties, SP

• Grant number: 16/14610-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2016
• End date: September 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Felipe Fornazari
• Grantee: Miriã Ribeiro Costa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Leishmaniasis are diseases of great importance in public health caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania. Epidemiology is complex and several mammalian species may act as reservoirs of the parasite. This work aims to detect Leishmania spp. in blood samples from various species of wild mammals using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Four hundred and three (403) free-ranging animals will be studied from Botucatu (SP) and Palmital (SP) counties, distributed in 18 species, whose respective blood samples were collected during the course of other scientific projects, and are currently stored in a freezer at - 80°C. As recently observed by our research group, in both municipalities the wild animals that will be studied have serologic evidence of infection with Leishmania spp.. Therefore, the present study intends to continue this investigation using direct methods of diagnosis. PCR will be used to detect specific DNA from Leishmania genus and the products will be sequenced to confirm the agent's identity. The results will be tabulated in an Excel spreadsheet and descriptive statistics of the data will be performed considering 95% as confidence interval. The calculations will be performed for the total of animals sampled and for the total number of individuals of each species.